ICCA Iberian Chapter at the Shanghai conference

The annual congress of ICCA attracted 936 delegates this year from 61 countries, among them a group of members from the ICCA Iberian Chapter who were very interested to find out about this emerging market. It was a record attendance, demonstrating the interest of international meetings professionals in the Chinese market. The programme was designed specifically to help understand better the complex culture of this immense country and to analyze its potential as a market of buyers.

The ICCA association, which has more than 1.000 professional members who specialize in organizing conferences in 90 countries, celebrated its 50th birthday this year, culminating with its annual congress being held in Shanghai from 2 to 6 November.

Learning to deal with China
Never in the history of the association had a congress held outside Europe attracted so many participants (936) from so many countries (61). “When one works in a area that is truly international, then one has to undertand how China is shaping and carrying the world economy”, said Arnaldo Nardone, president of ICCA, on the eve of the opening of the conference. “Our congress in Shanghai gives us the opportunity to learn to communicate and work with Chinese clients, delegates, business partners and even competitors. It also enables us to discover a civilization with a sophisticated ancient culture, a consumer society of more than 1.3 billion people, an entrepreneurial spírit and a culture of unique companies, and a city that is defining the shape that 21st century metropoli will take”.

“Out of the box” sessions

The congress itself offered a series of “out of the box” sessions, with a visit to the World Expo site in Shanghai as an example of a macro-event that can radically transform a whole district, and to the the R+D complex of engineering group SKF as an example of a multinational that is flourishing in the Chinese market, with an innovation centre that has international commercial objectives and is a source of highly qualified personnel. The programme also icluded two half day sessions called “conferences within the conference” which were aimed at high level executives and delegates whose companies are looking to do business with China; a formal debate on the place of commissions in the meetings market; a forum on the controversial apsects of business ethics, with presentations by experts in public relations, in reputation management and in disruptive technologies (as opposed to sustaining ones that evolve rather than replace). Clients from medical associations and international corporations also gave their views on how they see the meetings market evolving.Prize for Connie Cheng

The director of the Municipal Tourism Board for the city of Shanghai, Connie Cheng, was awarded ICCA’s most prestigious prize (the Moises Shuster, named after its ex president) for her contribution to developing the meetings market in China. “Connie Cheng is a pioneer in the meetings sector in China and has been our first active ICCA member from the country” said the association’s president, Arnaldo Nardone, on handing her the award. “She alone has managed to situate brand Shanghai on the international scene and has not stopped travelling around the country to persuade other professionals to become members of ICCA, with the result that today China has the largest number of members in the association. She has also helped ICCA presidents, starting from Pieter van der Hoeven, to understand the complexities of Chinese culture and politics.” The success of this year’s congress was due to her, as was her role in convincing Chinese politicians of the importance of the meetings sector in the framework of the global economy.